Wow, this is flying by! I am already halfway through my Ecuador trip and have really gotten close with all my new friends, and I cannot wait to see where this week will go! Today was a packed day filled with chocolate and walking through the river! Breakfast today had a twist, and instead of…
Tag: Plus3 Ecuador
Check out all the Plus3 Ecuador blogs below!
You Can Call Me “Weba”
This morning began with an intro from Ellie who is a wonderful person. Todd, the creator of the two lodges was introduced to Ecuador as a missionary kid who eventually married a Quichua woman and had Ellie. She spoke about how her and her three other siblings grew up back and forth between Arizona and…
Sabor y Aventura: Our First Days at Iyarina
Our trek to the Iyarina Lodge was nothing short of a good time! Our last morning in Otevalo started the same with bread, coffee, juice, and eggs for breakfast. We said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and began our long day of travel on the bus. The first stop of the day was at the…
All Aboard!!!
We awoke to a thunderstorm today. Usually, I would soak in the thunder and lay in this lovely lodge with screen walls, but…we had an early morning and a 6 hour canoe ride ahead of us today. Yikes. Everyone was frantically finding trash bags to wrap around our singular backpacks of luggage and changing into…
From the Jungle path to the Cocoa Aftermath.
Hello! It has been an active last couple of days in the Jungle. On Friday May 16th we got our boots on and took a truck down to the Jungle to search for some cacao. We stopped on the side of the read and just started to climb into the forest. We immediately spotted some…
Take me back down to where cool water flow
Day 7 of our trip started off with a nice porridge breakfast, then it was off to the races for chocolate making. Our guide brought cacao beans, a big pot, and a grinder, and we got to work. First, we heated the beans up, then we unwrapped them. Once that was done, we took the…
A Taste of the Amazon: Chocolate, Ceramics, Cold Showers, and Water Hike
On Friday (Day 7), I started the day early once again with breakfast at 8am. At this point, you should know what I had for breakfast – scrambled eggs and rolls! Ecuadorians must really enjoy this meal for breakfast LOL. I slept pretty well, and I was excited to explore the area that we were…
Day 7: Cocoa and Coves in the Heart of the Amazon
Our second day at the lodge, we started with chocolate making after breakfast. A chocolatier came and showed us step by step how to craft up this amazing sweet treat. We began by roasting the beans over the fire place. We then cracked open all the beans to get the shell off before grinding it…
Bracelet Bargains and 12-Hour Travel Day: A Whirlwind Tour of Ecuador
Hey everyone! This is going to be a longer blog as we had a long travel day the other day, and I was getting adjusted to our 4th hotel (the lodge). On Wednesday (day 5), we started our morning bright and early in Otavalo, Ecuador as we were woken up by the sound of roosters…
Day 6: Ceramics and Cacao!
Today was relaxing and informative! We started the day with yet another breakfast of bread and eggs, accompanied by a refreshing bowl of fruit. Todd, the owner of the lodge, gave us a lesson on the Waorani tribe and his background about how his lodge came to be and his connection to it. Todd is…
Busing to the Amazon
On May 14, we started our day off by going into the markets at Otavalo to barter with the locals. The markets were vast and despite my limited Spanish, I was able to get a shirt for around $7. Granted, I could’ve gotten it for cheaper but compared to the US prices, it was fairly…
Finally a Mako Mermaid
Today, after breakfast, we were given a close-up demonstration of a man from the lodge making chocolate from the cocoa bean. He had to have burnt all of the feeling off of his hands because he would just pick up those burning seeds and crack them! We would all gasp as he basically stuck his…
Day 6: Crafting and Harvesting
For our first day in the Iyarina lodge, we started with an early breakfast. Todd, the owner of the lodge then talked about the area of land and how the lodge came to be. The stories were fascinating. We then went to make clay pots out of the clay they find in a nearby river….
Salute Otavalo!
The past two days have been long but fun. Our last day in Otavalo was filled with singing, dancing, shopping, and farewells. First we went to the market and learned how to bargain which was really fun! Then we went to a waterfall and a bird zoo. To end the night we went back to…
Day 5: Hot Springs, High Peaks, and Hairy Tarantulas
After our night filled with music and dancing we left Hostal Curiñan and started our long day of traveling. Our first stop was the equator where we got to see all three 0s, the exact line of the equator. I learned that the sun rises exactly on the East only two days of the year,…
In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle
Hola! We made it to the Iyarina lodge in the Amazon!! Yesterday we had a long day of travel but we had a couple really fun stops as well. We packed up from the hotel and got on the road pretty early to head to our first stop at the equator line! We stopped there…
Cacao and the Jungle
After an amazing time in Otovalo and a long bus ride, we arrived at the Iyarina lodge last night. We couldn’t see much because it was dark, but walking to our rooms through the trees we could tell it was an amazing place. We had tacos for dinner, which tasted so good, and then finished…
Elevating our Elevation
Day 4 of our trip started with us venturing to the Otravelo markets. We were open up by the sound of roosters again. The markets were packed with sellers and merchandise. I was determined to find a magnet for a dollar, and I eventually made a deal with a seller to get 2 for 3…
Finding Family in Otavalo
Hola! We woke up in Otavalo to the unmistakable sound of a rooster’s morning call. It was only 6:30 AM, which meant that I still had another hour to sleep in! Once we got up and ready for the day, we sat down to our usual breakfast of eggs and a roll. After breakfast, we…
¡Bienvenido a Iyarina!
After a fantastic time around Quito, Picalqui, and Otovalo, we boarded our bus and made our way to the Iyarina Lodge, the part of the trip that I’ve been anticipating the most. During the bus ride, which was filled with twisting and windy mountain roads that put a little fear into me, we got to…